


Apples and Strawberries

by orionstarlight



Series: Haikyuu Angst Week 2020 [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Best Friends, Declarations Of Love, Haikyuu Angst Week 2020, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Photographs, Unrequited Crush, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27367444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orionstarlight/pseuds/orionstarlight
Summary: “Hey,” says Kenma, nudging Kuroo out of his daydream. “You wanted a picture, didn’t you?”Kuroo lights up and grins, pulling him closer to the landmark, and bothering the first passer-by he finds, the two of them posing like there’s no tomorrow. It’s in the very last picture that he looks away, looks down at Kenma, and thinksI’ll tell him another time.-----Kuroo remembers the time he spent with Kenma. Day 3 of Angst Week.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Haikyuu Angst Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995697
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Apples and Strawberries

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Photographs

* * *

His fingers are holding onto a piece of paper he can’t even believe is real, but it is. And it’s expecting him to give an answer.

He sets it aside next to his apple cider tea and lifts the lid off the box he’s brought with him this cold autumn afternoon, taking out its contents and sifting through them carefully, like they might turn to dust if he handles them wrong.

Three countries and more than twice as many photographs from them all stare back at him, pulling him down into a quicksand of memories.

* * *

_“You look cute here. Really resembling the cat you are,” says Kuroo at the photo of Kenma wearing a set of Aristocats ears in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle._

_“I regret letting you take that,” he grumbles, pulling his hood over his eyes even though it’s broad daylight and the last thing he should be wearing is a hoodie._

_Kuroo smiles at his phone. “Group chat says you look good. Frosted Tips says it’s cute how the ears just match your hair.”_

_Kenma looks up at the middle blocker from his game, eyes narrow and fierce. “You sent it to the group chat?”_

_“Oops,” he grins, but it’s clear he doesn’t regret the decision at all, even when Kenma tries to reach up for his phone to delete the message, simply holding it up higher than he can jump._

_He gives up after a while, the sun aiding in his defeat, and the two continue walking down the crowded streets, Kuroo making sure he doesn’t accidentally bump into someone while he’s gaming._

_He stops suddenly in front of a café, lurching Kenma back and into stopping too by grabbing onto the back of his collar, attracted by a sign in the window._

_“Ow.”_

_“You want ice cream? I’m gonna get strawberry,” says Kuroo, looking at someone walking away with a mint-coloured rose in a cone._

_He furrows his eyebrows and says, “They don’t have an apple pudding flavour, so no thanks. Can we go back to the hotel room now? I’m boiling.”_

_His hoodie is being pulled off him before he can protest, leaving him very exposed to the crowds around them. He sinks into his t-shirt, uncomfortable with all the pairs of eyes he can feel on him._

_“Ice cream will cool you down even more. Come on, I’ll get you strawberry too.”_

_A cone is being put in his hands within minutes and even though he’s not particularly hungry, it does look appealing and he’ll eat it so Kuroo won’t be disappointed. It tastes good, despite his reluctance, almost as if the shape itself adds to the flavour._

_“We’ll go as soon as we get a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. Gotta make sure the guys actually believe we’re in Paris.” Kenma wrinkles his nose._

_“You’ve been talking about this trip for months now. The Disneyland pictures weren’t enough to prove it?”_

_“Is it wrong to want to have as many memories in the form of pictures as possible?”_

_No response, which means Kuroo’s won the argument and they probably won’t be heading back to the hotel until he runs out of space in his camera roll._

_The warmth of summer stares at their backs as they walk on cracked pavements and rough cobblestones, Kenma even looking away from his game to listen to the random facts Kuroo keeps listing off about France, even if most of them don’t really sound much like facts at all._

_He’s pulled into a selfie without warning, smiling in reflex, only to become confused when he looks behind him and_ doesn’t _see the Eiffel Tower._

_“Kuro, that’s just a fountain. A regular fountain.”_

_He grins. “Wanted a picture before the ice cream was finished. Plus, your smile paired with your look of surprise really adds to the photo.”_

_He sighs but doesn’t get a moment to rest before Kuroo is pulling him along again, still rambling, but when the Tower shows itself in the distance he stops talking and the two of them just stare at it, marvelling at its height and simplicity._

_“Hey,” says Kenma, nudging Kuroo out of his daydream. “You wanted a picture, didn’t you?”_

_Kuroo lights up and grins, pulling him closer to the landmark, and bothering the first passer-by he finds, the two of them posing like there’s no tomorrow. It’s in the very last picture that he looks away, looks down at Kenma, and thinks_ I’ll tell him another time _._

* * *

_Italy was supposed to be_ warm _. Sure, it’s December and he knew that it wouldn’t be beach weather, but he’s disappointed that he has to endure a bitter chill at all._

_“You look like a penguin,” says Kuroo, tying Kenma’s scarf tighter around his neck, smiling at the bundle in front of him, glancing down at the new photo of the two of them in St Mark’s Square in Venice._

_Kuroo’s in the back, hands in peace signs at either side of Kenma’s head, having the time of his life, while the shorter boy of the two huddled in his jacket and scarf and gloves, completely swallowed by the outfit._

_“Okay, you got your photo, can we please eat now? You’ve had me walking for hours now.”_

_If Kenma is asking to eat he knows he’s taken it a little too far, so he ruffles his hair and says ‘sure’, the two of them taking to the streets again in search of a good place to eat — which apparently means the first hole in the wall he sees advertising pasta._

_While Kuroo explores the menu thoroughly, Kenma flicks through to the dessert section, eyes lighting up when he sees an apple pie. He’ll probably be forced to eat some kind of a main course, but there’s no way he’s giving up on apple pie._

_Kuroo looks at what Kenma’s eyes are focused on and says, “I’m not letting you leave here just having eaten dessert, Pudding Boy. You’ll faint on me halfway through the rest of the touring.”_

_There’s a disgruntled sigh that leaves his lips, but he orders some tomato soup to satisfy him, the promise of apple pie to great to break. He sinks into its warmth without hesitation when it arrives, not having been aware of just how much the cold had seeped into his bones, glad Kuroo went to the bathroom so he can’t see the look of happiness on his face at the first spoonful._

**_Hope you guys are having fun in Venice!_ **

_Kenma smiles at the message from Hinata that comes attached with a selfie in the Argentinian sun. “You’re smiling. Are you sick?”_

_Kenma rolls his eyes at the statement as Kuroo sits back down. “Shōyō texted. He’s making sure we’re having fun in Venice, although I’m pretty sure you’ve taken us to the Arctic.”_

_“Winter was always too cold for you; summer was always too hot for you. At least they’re aren’t as many people around now as there were in Paris,” Kuroo retorts, and Kenma has a hard time disagreeing._

_Out of nowhere a napkin appears at the corner of his lip, cheeks burning furiously with blush, looking at the old captain._

_“Tomato,” explains Kuroo, ignoring the feelings on the tip of his tongue._

_“Oh, thanks.” He tries his best not to look uncomfortable. “So, what else did you want to do today?”_

* * *

_“Don’t take too long, okay?” were Kenma’s last words before Kuroo disappeared off the street._

_He’s now picking up souvenirs in a store a little more posh than he’d like, Kenma waiting for him outside, playing on his new Nintendo Switch. His fingers trace a small charm you can attach to your phone where the headphones usually go in._

_He’ll get it. He’s gotten bigger, more impactful gifts before. This is barely anything compared to those._

_England is rather alright come springtime, minus the rain, so Kenma hasn’t had much to complain about during their trip, and he’s more than happy to stay inside on the rainy days, bundled up in a duvet or holed up in the first café he spies when he’s forced outside._

_The plan is to give it to him in front of the big billboards in Trafalgar Square, when he’s distracted by the technicalities and wiring and pixels in the form of bright colours. He’ll dangle it in front of his line of sight, watch his expression change, and then confess before he has a chance to take it back. He figures this trip to England is the one to finally say it._

_It’s wrapped up in purple tissue paper, placed in a pristine white bag, handed to him by a rather unbothered cashier. He walks outside into the late spring air, enjoying the sun hitting his face, and walks towards the boy he came here with who’s currently on the phone._

_“I’ll let you know. Love you, Shōyō.” Time stops then, the smile he has on him being wiped away so quickly it’s like he’s been slapped._

_He’s confused, mostly. Hurt? Angry, but mainly at himself._

_It’s pointless to feel anything other than regret right now. He had the chance. He had many chances, in fact, from the moment he moved into Kenma’s neighbourhood to his graduation day to this morning when they snapped a picture in front of Buckingham Palace._

_But time runs faster than he does, apparently. It doesn’t like to wait for you to get the words out that are impossible to speak because of fear._

_“You and Shrimpy, then?” he asks when Kenma turns around._

_He doesn’t think he sounds heartbroken; he’s hoping he doesn’t. Because no one else except him needs to know that something’s wrong. In a performance, as long as you just keep smiling, the audience will never realise you’ve made a mistake._

_He puts his phone away into his pocket, cheeks a little rosy. “I, uh, yeah. It’s fairly new. We haven’t really told anyone yet.”_

_‘Fairly new’ and ‘love you’ are two contrasting statements in Kuroo’s mind, but he knows that Kenma wouldn’t lie to him on purpose. It must just be that they confessed before they made things official between them. He can’t help but ignore the thought of when that could have been._

_“Hey, I’m happy for you guys, you fit well together. But you should really tell your best friend things like this sooner,” says Kuroo, ruffling his hair in an attempt to bite back his unsaid ‘ **I’ve been in love with you since you asked me what I wanted to play** ’ because it’s too late for it now._

_He’ll give the charm to one of his younger cousins._

* * *

He posts the invitation marked ‘Not Attending’ and carries on through the streets of Japan, cup of apple cider tea growing cold in his hand.

Some of the photographs are a little tear-stained, a few deformed from the pressure of his fingers, wrinkled and ever so slightly crumpled. If he were to count them all, he might just end up with a number short of a hundred, having wanted enough memories to last him a lifetime.

He has no doubt the ceremony between the two men will be a wonderful one, full of friends and family they’ve gathered over the years. Kageyama will, no doubt, be the best man in the situation, and he’d pay to see that guy in a suit at the altar, but not if the price is having to be there in person, a best man suit slapped on him too.

So, yeah, the ceremony will be a wonderful one, just quiet enough to make Kenma happy but loud enough to keep Hinata’s energy up, an equal balance between the two of them. A wedding he cannot find it in him to attend, no matter the number of messages from his old teammates and rivals who are still hoping he’ll show up.

The one thing he’d told Kenma when he graduated was that he didn’t want to lose him. It seems he hadn’t even realised when that happened.

Paris, Venice, London — it’s not much, but at least he has that.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> [my ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/erissapphic)


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